When push comes to shove, the U.S. will have to decide whether Taiwan's status quo has a future

On all the maps, the beautiful, bustling island 100 miles off the coast of China is clearly labeled: Taiwan. The swarms of tourists and businessmen who arrive at the cavernous Chiang Kai-shek International Airport know they have landed in Taiwan. Even hostile communist officials in Beijing sometimes refer to their old foes, the Nationalists, as "the authorities on Taiwan." But if the government on the island should ever begin calling itself the Republic of Taiwan, signaling that it is declaring its full independence from the mainland, the most likely reply from the People's Republic of China across the straits would be...